Exploring: Matter of Life and Death
by Gandalf3213
Summary: While investigating the remains of a shuttlecraft, Data and an injured Geordi are stranded on an earthquakeprone planet with no way of knowing if either of them will come out alive.
1. Stuck

**I don't own Star Trek.**

**We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade... not because it will be easy but becauseit will behard**. -_ John F. Kennedy_

"Okay, split up. We want to find this craft as soon as possible!" Commander William Riker called the instructions to his away team, shouting over the wind and rain and wondering how he had gotten stuck with this mission.

A shuttlecraft that had gotten trapped in the planet's gravitational pull had crash-landed around here. Unfortunately, the storm's interference made it impossible for the ship's scanners to determine if there were any survivors or the exact location of the craft. So Captain Picard had sent down an away team consisting of Riker, Data, Worf, and Geordi.

Riker moved to the south, blinking his eyes constantly, trying to get the rain out. He saw Worf twenty paces to his right, his enormous head bowed against the string wind.

Twenty paces to his left; Geordi was moving fast. For once, Riker envied Geordi of his VISOR, which not only kept the rain out of his sightless eyes, but could scan the entire area in front of his for life signs.

Moving next to Geordi, going faster then anyone, was Data. His tricorder was out, looking for energy readings that would indicate the direction of the wreckage.

Just then, a tremendous force knocked Commander Riker to the ground. A grunt of pain from Worf, just barely audible over the wind, indicated that he too had been knocked from his feet. Will Riker got up and looked through the rain, squinting in order to see the outline of Data, who had been able to keep his feet.

Geordi was nowhere in sight.

Riker signaled to Worf, remembered that he probably couldn't see him in the rain, and called, "This way!"

He slipped and slid to the spot where his officer had disappeared, and immediately knew why he could no longer see him. He, Data, and Worf were standing on the edge of a cliff. One that Geordi had doubtlessly been thrown over.

Data was already starting to climb down the cliff face. "I shall search for Commander La Forge, you will then be able to continue the search."

William Riker nodded his consent. "Data-be careful." He started to back away from the cliff, so that he could continue with the search, but not before he heard Data respond, "But sir, I am always careful."

They had barely gone ten paces from the edge of the cliff before another shake threw Worf and Riker back to the ground. No sooner had Riker regained his feet for the second time in five minutes then his com badge chirped, "_Enterprise_ to away team." Riker tapped it, wiping rain and mud from his face. "Commander Riker here."

"Commander, we are reading increasing seismic activity down there, prepare to beam up." Picard's voice was crisp and business like, leaving no room for argument.

Thirty seconds later, Commander Riker and Worf were back on the _Enterprise_, but there was no sign of Data or Geordi."

He looked at O' Brian, who answered his unasked question. "I'm sorry sir, there's to much activity. I couldn't get a fix on their signals."

Captain Picard walked into the transporter room. He took in the men standing inside, and the fact that there should be two more. "Commander Riker, please accompany me to my Ready Room, if you have no injuries." Riker shook his head "no" and followed the captain back to the bridge.

Seven minutes later, he was finishing his report, "…he must have been thrown over the edge of the cliff."

For the first time, Picard interrupted him. "Do you know his condition?" he was disheartened to see his first officer shake his head.

"No, I couldn't see him at all. Data went down after him, but I don't know if he was detached from the cliff after the second tremor." He saw Picard nod, and had to add, "Sir, I would like to lead another away team down there."

Picard shook his head. "I can't send anyone down there until after the storm has passed." He softened his voice before saying, "There's nothing you could have done, Will."

Commander Riker nodded and went back to the bridge, not believing the captain for a minute.

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Reviews are like flowers, their nice to get. 


	2. Hurt

**I own nothing**

**Astronomy compels the soul to look upward, and leads us from this world to another. **_— Plato, 342 B.C_

Geordi La Forge felt horrible. It felt like every bone in his body had been taken apart, and then put back together. Badly. He was also very wet, but that was beside the point. The raindrops that were falling on his closed eyelids…

Uh-oh. Geordi's VISOR was missing. Despite his body's protests he stretched out his arms, moving them in different directions to try to find the smooth surface of his VISOR. Without it, he had no chance of getting back to the _Enterprise_ in the storm, while badly hurt, and after being thrown over a cliff.

He had no chance anyway, come to think of it.

A hand touched Geordi's back, making him spin around and slip into a some very wet stones. Ouch. A calm voice was talking very fast. "Are you searching for this?"

Geordi could have cried (though he probably wouldn't have) when he heard Data's voice and felt the coolness of his VISOR in his hand. He lifted the device to his face and put it into place, immediately getting a huge amount of readings which he interpreted into images.

"We must find shelter, then attempt to contact the _Enterprise_." Data's voice rose above the wind and rain. Geordi nodded his agreement and started to stand up. He didn't get more then a half-foot off the ground before his left leg buckled and he fell back down to the rocks, cursing under his breath.

Data tugged on his arm, and Geordi had to suppress a groan. Data had no idea how strong he was. Data had nearly dislocated his shoulder.

Putting his full weight against the android, Geordi and Data made their way to an outcropping of rocks about five hundred meters away that suggested some cave, or at least shelter from the rain.

Before they had gotten little more then half-way, however, a ripple seemed to go through the earth. Geordi didn't even have to look up to know that a couple of rocks had dislodged themselves from the cliff and were coming down directly on top of him and Data.

Data pushed sideways into Geordi, sending both of them tumbling down through mud and rocks. The rocks missed them by feet.

Geordi was on bottom, and was feeling pretty much like a pancake. He was pretty sure that he had a couple of broken ribs, but at least he didn't have a broken head.

"I am sorry for the abruptness of my action, but I feel that if more time had been taken we would both most certainly have perished." Again, Data's voice could barely be heard above the wind and rain, but Geordi _did_ hear it as he got pulled to his feet by his friend.

"That's okay Data, I think my life's worth more then a couple of bruises."

Again, they started for the cave, hoping that there would be no further earthquakes before they got there.

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Sorry it's so short. Review? 


	3. Found

**I own nothing**

**. ...space is for everybody. It's not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That's our new frontier out there, and it's everybody's business to know about space. - Christa McAuliffe**

Data looked out from the relative safety of their cave. "The storm is beginning to clear up." He said, looking back at his companion. "Geordi?"

The man was laying on the ground, trying to figure out the extent of damage to his leg without moving his upper body. From what he could tell (and that wasn't much) his leg had been broken and then crushed in his fall. And it really hurt. "Yes, Data?"

"Is there a way I could assist you?" The android's head was tilted in the characteristic way of his, making Geordi let out a guttural laugh.

"Not unless you somehow brought the entire medical lab down here." Geordi put his hand to his head. This headache was not getting any better. Data knelt down next to him and looked at his friend. Both knew that they just had to wait it out.

"The storm has cleared up, sir."

Captain Picard, who had previously been pacing across the bridge of his ship, looked at the Ensign at the com station. "How long until we can transport them out of there?" he asked, careful to keep his voice neutral.

Without hesitation, the young man replied, "As soon as we can get a lock on their signals."

Commander Riker tapped the icon on his chest. "Riker to O'Brien." The regular response came almost immediately. "Beam them directly to sick bay." He got the answer in the affirmative.

"All radiation from the storm has cleared, but-" The ensign looked down at the beeping screen, frowning. "Another quake just hit."

Commander Riker's com chirped. "They're in sick bay, sir." Was the only message it transmitted before going out.

Dr. Beverly Crusher watched as two human-like forms started to form in the middle of her medical room. One of the forms seemed to be leaning against the other for support. Once they were fully materialized, Geordi fell with a groan.

"Data, what happened?" Dr. Crusher and two nurses lifted the limp body onto one of the tables. She had already started scanning Geordi before she realized that Data had not yet answered. She turned to see him frozen with his mouth open.

Dr. Crusher turned to her head nurse. "I need an engineering team up here immediately. He's the only one who knows exactly what went on down there."

Continuing with the scan, Dr. Crusher breathed out a long, loud sigh. It was going to be a long day.

**Yeah, short. But still review, 'kay?**


	4. Fixied?

**I own nothing**

**A sense of the unknown has always lured mankind and the greatest of the unknowns of today is outer space. The terrors, the joys and the sense of accomplishment are epitomized in the space program. - William Shatner, a.k.a. Capt. Kirk **

On the _Enterprise_, two different teams were patching up two different people. In sick bay, Dr. Crusher was doing everything she could to stabilize Geordi, and in engineering, Lieutenant Barclay was doing everything he could to figure out what in the world was wrong with Data.

Ironically, what Dr. Crusher was wishing was that Data was able to tell her what had happened on the planet, to give her a better idea of where to start. All Barclay wanted was La Forge to tell him how to fix Data.

Dr. Crusher swept her short hair back impatiently, making sure she had read the scan right, which she hoped she hadn't. Realizing that the tricorder had, indeed, given her the right reading, she sighed. Something in the atmosphere of that planet had tampered with the perfect immune system that was the norm of every person living in the twenty-fourth century. Geordi was running an incredibly high fever- 39.6° C if the tricorder was to be believed.

One of her nurses was already trying to work on Geordi's legs, which were by far the most damaged part of his body. In the fall, Dr. Crusher hypothesized, Geordi must have landed hard enough on the rocks to cleanly break his right leg. Then during the resulting rockslide, his left leg had been crushed underneath an impossible number of rocks. Just looking at the mangled legs made Beverly Crusher shudder.

There were also a dislocated shoulder. Beverly could guess where this had come from. Sometimes, Data didn't know his own strength. Dr. Crusher rubbed her temples, she didn't want to be the one who told Data that he had injured his friend, even though by doing so he had (probably) saved his life.

After nearly three hours of doing some very old-fashioned operating, Beverly Crusher had reconfigured Geordi's legs in a manner that made her very proud. With any luck, he'd be able to walk, eventually. The dislocated shoulder was easy to take care of. She had also taped a couple of fractured and broken ribs. So except for a few minor scrapes and bruises and the fever, La Forge should be almost back to being mostly as good as new.

Reg Barclay was wishing he was having as much luck with Data. He knew perfectly well that he was not qualified for the job of repairing the second officer. He also knew that the only person on the _Enterprise_ who had ever been inside Data was currently fighting his own battle.

Once inide Data's head, it was easy to know what the problem was-tiny pieces of sand, rock, and glass had gotten caught in between the wires and gears that made up Data's incredibly sophisticated positronic brain. Usually, it wouldn't be a problem, Data would be able to self-clean his brain. It was the amount of "stuff" that had gottne caught that was the problem. It was _everywhere_, and Barclay had no idea how to get it out.

And Barclay was feeling rather odd. He had trained to be a engineer, not a surgen. He was basicly holding Data's "life" in his hands, and he didn't know where to begin.

Actually, Barcaly was feeling odd, kind of queezy. It wasn't a pleasent feeling.

**Review?**


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